Barrels

Bah, it looks like my last message in the conversation deleted itself. Oh computer, I love you so. So no need to apologize, computers hate me too~

And I have put that new power to use immediately. My adoration of you carries the sheer intensity of a thousand suns, my good man.

In truth, I have not one, but THREE protagonists. Of course, Oliver does outshine the other two sonfar, I'll be honest. Shall I serve you a delicious platter of detail, or does the sir prefer a light snack this evening?

It's true. But we can't all be a man as bodacious as Teddy. It's an unfortunate fact of life.

And there's never too many question marks!
Really, I'm not sure what it is! I'd like to think that I'm departing from the usual cache of role playing tradition, but I'm not trying to shove it away either~

It's just a story that decided it wanted to be a game!

Edit: The story was holding itself hostage. I had no choice in the matter Dx

My health is indeed good, and my game is darn fan-ny~
How kind of you to ask! How is thyself responding to thy recent twists of fate and fortune?
My ideas are still in development, but I'm hoping to produce a whimsical adventure about the meanings of heroism. There's so much that it's hard to simply summarize~

LOL.

The kids could do with some real-life education; I'm doing them a favour. Somebody has to educate all the little boys about what goes where. I'll entitle the seminar "Vag Who?"

I can't believe in all the hullabaloo of our PMing last night I completely missed your VM!

Jed Whedon is amazing. He is the Joss Whedon of music XD. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a hand in the Buffy musical episo--ohhhhh wait you haven't seen that BECAUSE YOU ARE STILL A BUFFY VIRGIN!!!

And I'll turn you yet my friend, don't you worry. I'll have you enjoying the company of men by the time I'm done with you. You'll be all like "vag who?"

My wazoo smells wonderful. You can take my word on that.

LOL. You gained about 500 points for linking to something concerning Meryl Streep XD - also I must ask. Did you listen to the song I linked while you were reading my case study?! It adds to the effect, I promise!

Also:


[11:14am] Bela: Andy who is this barrels fellow
[11:14am] ShiningRaichu: the most amazing human being in existence
[11:14am] Bela: they definitely seem like it!
[11:15am] ShiningRaichu: no offence but I'd trade you all in for one of him

The debate becomes less fun if you go and research everything . I am speaking only from anecdotal evidence. You won't find the true nature of any of this written anywhere on the internet, it has to be observed, which is what I've spent a great deal of time doing. I have anecdotal evidence up the wazoo (yes, the wazoo!)

In the end though, I think what a lot of this comes down to is perspective. A lot of the things I've said you've basically agreed with and then said "but this is a good thing" or "this is the way it should be" and I simply don't agree a lot of the time. It's OK though, I don't really expect you or anybody else to understand why I find this to be such a disturbing phenomenon, no matter how hard or how articulately I try to explain it. And the fact that most of your arguments make a lot of sense for some reason doesn't change the fact that every time I hear of someone being pregnant I still think "Damn, we've lost another one".

Anyway yes, we seem to be breaking a ton of records for the longest VM ever, to the point where it has become too indimidating even for me... so I'm going to stop for now . I want to keep going, but I'd prefer to do it next time you have the time to come on Skype so I can actually think on my feet and reply rather than having to sit here for more than an hour painstakingly coming up with a rebuttal for each argument you've made... because my **** there are a lot of them. Like, I was sitting there for half an hour reading over everything you said and trying to articulate the answers and it's just so overwhelming lmao. Also, I think if we're talking in person I might come off a whole lot less unlikeable than I feel like I do in these VMs XD

Haha, I'm not sure at what point this turned from me ranting about why I hate children into an actual full-fledged debate, but I'm not complaining xD

The thing is, everything you're saying makes sense on the face of it, and I hope to Jeebus that it is all true because if it were, it would make me at least 50% more comfortable with the idea of children (only 50% as even your version of the whole thing is still a little more perverse than I would like). But as much as I want to believe it, I've heard too many people - not just actresses, but other people closer to me and my life - humming the same old tune to have the picture in my head wavered by an argument even as logical and persuasive as yours.

To continue the computer metaphor; I honestly do think it is more than a patch. If not a whole new operating system then at least something between the two... perhaps a behavioural software patch, two new drivers and an improved battery life with a back-up generator powered by your newfound loooove. A simple patch could not possibly be enough to create this intense and instantaneous transformation that so many people - Brooker included - have described. Perhaps it is more akin to being possessed; who you were is not 'gone' per se, but remains deep inside you, fighting tooth and nail to claw its way back to the surface but ultimately being pushed down into complacent submission by the love-induced endorphins, progesterone and other override protocols set in motion by the transformative software.

Your characterisation of the bad parents out there actually makes me more uncomfortable rather than easing my concerns. That says to me that this transformation is not just something that happens whether we like it or not (yet post-transformation do like whether the person we were before would like it or not, as they get pushed head-first down into the depths of our memory), but something that must happen because if it doesn't then the person in question is destined to be... *dun dun DUNNN* ... a bad parent. So the two options that are open to you are to either succumb to the irreversible software update and change who you are as a person forever, or reach into your inner strength to fight it and keep yourself at the expense of a defenseless little creature who you are then destined to spend the next 18 years of your life crushing into a shell of what he or she could have been. This is not a comforting thought.

For some anecdotal evidence of what happens to a person when they become a parent (even if they never wanted a child), and how it changes them from an interesting person into an insufferable brain-washed drone, read this case study written by an incredibly wise man whose keen observational skills pick up things that most fail to see. For added effect, read it while listening to this song in the background.

In any event, my argument was never that a parent should neglect their child, but that society should stop placing them on a pedestal and making them into what should be the most important thing to everybody, whether you actually own one or not. I know far too many parents who think that everybody else should care about their child just as much as they do because of this, and that is not right. Children are not the most important thing in society. Not even close. One might argue that children are our future, but I must counter that if we spend all your time worrying about the future, when are we going to enjoy the present?

I notice that a lot of your arguments are coming from the perspective of the child and how it would affect the child... in other words, you're arguing as a parent xD. What I'm talking about is how the child affects you, not how you affect it. And this is the problem... nobody thinks of that. From the moment a child is born, everything is about the child. The world moves to accommodate it, and it's gotten to the point where we've seen protection of children come at the expense of the freedoms of adults. Some examples of this include the lack of an R18 video game rating in my state, authorities instead preferring to ban the games that would fit into that category; the proposed SOPA and PIPA acts (as well as the current CISPA), which are designed in part to protect children from online predators yet had the potential to filter out many legitimate sites, including porn; and the Parents Television Council, made up primarily of women who are so into their children that they aim to get any and every non-family friendly TV show cancelled just to accommodate their little cherubs.

And then finally, back on the subject of parents (I thought of something else haha), with the transformation comes a change of perspective. After the parenthood software is installed, many people who used to be pro-choice become pro-life, many who used to be pro-freedom instead begin to fight for the protection of the innocence of children above all else. We are losing soldiers in the fight for liberty. Every day we lose more. There is too much of people saying "I can't do that, I'm a parent now".

This is starting to feel oddly like a duel between Bellatrix and Molly Weasley, and the disturbing part is I'm Bellatrix XD

YOU COME ONLINE AND POST IN MY CLUB BUT DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME?!

I am suicidal now, I hope you know this feelings so hurt.

So it will mess kids up if they are not the centre of the universe? XD - I think if anything that would teach them more values and give them far more life-skills than the over-protection with which we shower them now . I'm not suggesting we sideline them, just re-adjust our priorities above the baser instinct and realise that there are other things in life which are equally if not more important. Also, please never refer to yourself as a 'bumpkin'

In any case, I'd love to get a screencap collage of this VM conversation and somehow send it to Brooker and get his thoughts on the matter. I'm sure he might be able to set a few things straight once and for all, being the only person who is really qualified to break the tie. Also I'd just love to get his thoughts on it in general; because honestly while I hope you're right, the way I see it right now is the second you clap eyes on your child, everything you once were is just drained out of your body and replaced with something else. You're no longer a person, who you were is gone. The light in your eyes just leaves and is left with this cold dead (yet happy!) robotic child-protection software.

That metaphor derailed somewhere along the line, but I think you get my point

Anyway, I hope you are right... though even then it doesn't necessarily make it OK. It still doesn't make you the same person you were pre-baby. The very thought is horrifying to me lol.

AND YAY THANK YOU FOR JOINING MY CLUB YOUR POST WAS AMAZING.

I read this VM this morning when I didn't have time to reply and now it's like 6pm so I hope I've replied to everything haha, I'm looking over it again and again trying to make sure I missed nothing XD. Also I do want to read this HP fan fic of yours. It can't be that terrible, if you wrote it. At the very least tell me what it was about